Roles of the team

The roles included in making a music video are the cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound and editing. In our group of 3 we've all decided on what role we'll each have, i've decided to have the role of cinematography, Ellie's role is mise-en-scene and Lily's role will be editing. We've agreed on these roles for each other because we believe these are the roles that we're better at. In my role of cinematography i will be doing  the filming and working out the shots which will fit with the music video best. 

As my role as cinematographer in order to prepare myself for this, before filming our music video i practiced holding the camera, figuring out how it works and using the shoulder rig to get used to it and know what movements looked best with this. Once it got to filming the proper music video, i felt prepared and that we could jump straight into it and not have me mess about with the camera trying to figure out how to use it, which would waste a lot of valuable time. 

Types of Music Video- narrative, performance & abstract

Types of music video 

Abstract music videos don't have a story to it and are usually quite a random and obscure. Abstract music videos are very popular to a wide range of audience that enjoy watching the unusual themes in the video. There is no specific genre or type of music that have abstract music videos, normally any artist will do one. A successful abstract video will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what or who is on the screen. For example, 'Light it up' (feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG) by Major Lazer is a very abstract music video because it features dancers but they're all edited weirdly and it's very colourful with no story to it and it's very random to the lyrics of the song. 

Narrative based music videos will feature no lip syncing, the narrative will often relate to the song in some way, the lyrics will often be reflected within the story and the artist will either be apart of the narrative, an observer or won't be featured in it at all. Other features of a narrative video are they're often fast paced, use intertextuality and sometimes they mimic other films and TV genres. For example, 'I'm Not the Only One' by Sam Smith is a narrative music video, the story is about a woman finding out her husband is cheating on her and they've used a well known actor, Dianna Agron to bring up more views on the music video because all her fans will want to watch the music video as she's in it. 

Performance based music videos often contain shots of the artist performing, can be a live stage performance with shots of the artist/band and audience, often includes lots of close ups of the artist, there can be particular visual style that goes with the artist (a motif) e.g. particular clothing, actions, props, type of images and the artist will often perform in an unusual place. For example, 'Perfect Illusion' by Lady Gaga is a performance music video because mostly all of the music video is Lady Gaga performing to a crowd in a unusual place. 

Treatment

Idea for my music video: 

Music: 

The song i have decided to use for my music video is 'Chandelier' by Sia but i'll be using a cover by Madilyn Bailey on YouTube due to copyright reasons. I've decided on this song because it's popular and has a good story behind the lyrics which i thought i could use to get a good creative music video out of it. 

Location: 

For the location of the music video, i'll be carrying on with the theme of a run down building like in the actual music video but also have scenes in a empty room with a back black drop because i want a contrast between the story line (the lyrics) in the music video and the dancing. 

Lighting: 

The lighting we will mostly be using is low key but include colourful bright 'disco' lights for the scenes where we're filming using the back drop. The reason for the low key lighting is because the theme of the song is quite negative and a serious topic so we need the lighting to also portray this and the reason for the disco lights is because it can link in with the theme of partying because it'll be like she's in a club. 

Costume: 

I'll be keeping it simple with the costumes, for example because the girl is dealing with alcoholism so they'll be wearing over-sized hoodies to look scruffy and run down but also keeping it simple. With the over-sized hoodie they'll wear dance shorts underneath because they'll be dancing. 

Props: 

 I'm including minimal props because i want the focus to be on the lyrics and the characters but one prop i'll be using is large piece of red cloth to signify the battle she is facing and we'll be able to include it in with the dance and by it being red will add a bit of colour to the scene making it very effective and stand out. 

Genres of Music Mind Map

By creating this mind map of the genre of music it helped me decide on what genre i wanted to do for my music video and it enabled me to see what artists were in that genre so i could look up that artist and see what their music videos are like and get inspiration from them. The genre of music i'm deciding to do is pop because it's one of the more popular styles and i enjoy the types of music made in the pop genre because they're usually upbeat with good lyrics. 

Star Image

Star Image- Beyoncé

Richard Dyer came up with the star image theory and he split it up into three sections: 

1. The star as a construction- The star is constructed through music videos, magazines, advertising etc. For example, Miley Cyrus is constructed to be crazy and stand out (twerking and being naked on a wrecking ball) however, she wouldn't do this is her personal life  
2. The star as a commodity- Stars are produced to create profit off of related merchandise like t-shirts, posters etc. Similar stars are created because record labels know certain patterns and trends that work & will generate money e.g. boy bands 
3. The star as an ideology- Stars will represent certain social groups and views therefore creating a certain ideology. This results in fans copying the stars style and share the same views as them.

Beyonce's early star image was when she rose to fame in 1990's when she was in the popular R&B girl-group 'Destiny's Child', the group became the worlds best-selling girl groups of all time. In 2003 Beyonce became a solo artist after creating the debut album, 'Dangerously in Love' which earned five Grammy Awards and featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy". In the music video, "Crazy in Love" Beyonce was made for the male gaze due to her lack of clothing, close ups of her assets and her provocative dance moves, shes carried on this theme even up until today.  

In Beyonce's music videos, she's much more performance based instead of playing a character because she's a really good dancer and this is what she does in mostly all of her videos for entertainment and to showcase her other talent apart from just singing. The recurring visual motif for Beyonce's music videos is her dancing and performing for the audience but also having a narrative behind it which links with the lyrics. 


Beyonce's appearance in the majority of her music videos is always her looking very glam with her hair and makeup done and in more quirky high end clothing and accessories, this is for her to appeal to both genders in her audience, for example it'll make girls want to look and be like her because she's beautiful and very talented making the girls want to aspire to be like her and the male audience is mostly for the male gaze because they'll find her attractive, hence why they'd want to watch her videos. Overall, a lot of her music videos include close-ups of herself so attract the audience but also you could say she's trying to create a relationship with her audience because she'll be looking into the camera whilst lip syncing the song, for example in the music video "If I Were a Boy" there's a lot of close ups of her face looking into the camera to show her sadness and to make the audience feel emotional because it is an emotional song. 

Due to the theme of most of Beyonce's songs (upbeat and quick tempo) her editing is always quite fast to keep up with the music in the background and she uses a lot of close ups and long shots in all of her videos because pretty much all of her music videos she's lip syncing so the close ups are for her to sing to the camera, again showing her emotions, and the long shots are because her music videos are performance based so it's to make sure the audience can see her and the other people in the music video dancing. These both reinforce the image of Beyonce being a performer and very talented because the camera shots and editing enable the audience to see this. 

Ever since Destiny's Child, Beyonce has been one of the most famous singers in the world this could be due to her catchy songs, or it could be because she's married to also one of the most famous celebrities in the world; Jay Z. Another reason for how Beyonce is so famous is that she's always been a good role model to everyone as she's never been caught doing anything bad or out of the ordinary. She is known for her 'independent woman' ways and promoting 'girl power' to young females. She's done this through writing songs about being independent, for example the popular song "Singe Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" which is about being single and not needing a man to help you in life and her other popular song "Run the World" is also about women empowerment. This could be another reason for why Beyonce has so many fans because she's a huge role model to young females and motivates them to go out and succeed whatever they want to succeed. 

The reason for me choosing Beyonce for looking at star image is because in the sense of them mostly being performance based and having a lot of dancing, it relates to my ideas for my music video because i'm including dancing and using close ups for showing emotion and lip syncing, which there's evidence of Beyonce doing this in multiple of her music videos. We portrayed a star image in our music video with our actor, Phoebe, we did this through extreme close ups of her face. This makes her connect with the audience, through the use of eye contact because she's looking straight into the camera. The image of our actor will attract the younger teenage girl audiences because we've made her very plain and like a normal teenage girl, so this will make her relatable to the audience as she looks just like them, instead of having her dressed up with lots of makeup and her hair done fancy because this isn't the image we wanted for her. 

Music Video Analysis

'Fade' by Kanye west 

I've chosen to analyse this music video because it has similar traits to what i want to include in my music video and i feel like it's quite similar to a Sia music video as well. The traits which i believe are similar is the fact that the actual artist isn't featured in the music video but instead they have a contemporary/modern dancer performing the narrative to link with the lyrics. 

The dancer, Teyana Taylor, had little clothing on showing her assets which caused the 'male gaze', to help with this was close ups of her bum and breasts to include the male audience and maybe to bring up the viewings because more males will want to watch it. There was a lot of panning involved with this music video so the audience are able to follow the dancers movements and by panning it makes the camera still and to flow nicely from scene to scene which i would like to include in my music video but also i'd like to add a hand held camera so we'll be able to follow the dancer around the setting much easier. 

The lighting in the music video is very low key and there's a theme of grey's and brown colours to go with the lighting and keep everything dark. This can link to the theme of the song and it's tempo/beat because the song all the way throughout it quite slow and the beats are very deep so the lighting is in contrast with this. This is something else i'd like to have in my music video. 

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Analysis of music videos using Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin's 5 key concepts for a music video: 

Andrew goodwin theory from LucyBurrows112

Christina Perri- Jar of Hearts 

In the music video it references to Andrew Goodwin's theory by pairing the visuals to the lyrics, for example she says " you don't get to get me back" and whilst this lyric is sung the visuals shows the woman dancer break free from the males embrace and leaving him which links to the lyrics. Another example of Andrew Goodwin's theory is the typical genre characteristics; Jar of Hearts is piano rock and this genre is portrayed throughout the whole music video. For example, the lighting is very low key and everyone/thing are in dark colours to fit with the stereotype of rock and to fit with the piano side is the lyrical dancers. 

Sia- The Greatest 

The music video includes intertextual reference to a real life event, the Orlando shootings. This is shown in the music video through dance, the rainbow coloured paint dragged under the eyes of the girl and the setting (panicked movements and rundown building with clubbing lights) Also, there's a motif which recur's across most of Sia's work, which is the use of the young dancer girl who wears the same styled wig whilst dancing out the narrative of the song. This is used so the audience know it's a song by Sia because of the similar themes. 

              Lady Gaga- Applause 

This music video has a lot of reference to using Andrew Goodwin's theory. Firstly, Lady Gaga is the main character throughout the music video and has lots of shots, this uses star image. There's links between the lyrics and visuals, for example when Lady Gaga says "make em' touch" and "i live for the applause" she claps her hands together, relating to the lyrics of applause which includes clapping your hands. Another aspect of the music video is that the tempo and order of the shots fit in with the the quick upbeat rhythm of the song. Lastly, there's heavy inspiration from the arts and featured references to Sandro Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venusand' and Andy Warhol's 'Marilyn Diptych.